# The Bride — Poetry character guide > The Bride in Poetry by Fernando Pessoa. **Role:** major **Also known as:** The bride, hers **First appearance:** 0000-35-sonnets ## Who they are A bride being dressed, watched, and undressed by the gaze of maids and guests before she ever reaches the church door. ## Relationships ### [Lo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/characters/lo) _romantic_ Lo and The Bride share a deeply intimate and possibly forbidden romantic connection, marked by frequent interactions and emotional intensity. ### [Hadrian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/characters/hadrian) _social_ Hadrian and The Bride are acquaintances with a formal or distant connection, possibly through shared circles. ### [Lo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/characters/lo) _romantic_ Lo and The Bride share a deeply intimate and possibly forbidden romantic connection, marked by frequent interactions and emotional intensity. ## In the story ### [35 Sonnets](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/35-sonnets) Referenced in sonnets dealing with marriage, anticipation, and anxiety. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/iv) The beloved, addressed as 'thee,' who is dead and buried. ### [English Poems](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/english-poems) Appears in poems related to marriage, anticipation, and anxiety. ### [Inscriptions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/inscriptions) Referenced in the epitaph of a wife who 'moved, slept, bore and aged without a fate.' ### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/x) The beloved who lies beside the speaker, now lost. ### [Epithalamium](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/epithalamium) The central figure; awakens with fear and joy, dresses with her maids, and is led toward her wedding night. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/i) Awakening on her wedding day, she feels joy mixed with fear and hesitation. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/ii) Awakens with fear and trembling, dreading the bridegroom's touch and the loss of her bodily autonomy. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/iii) Lying in bed, torn between desire and fear, contemplating the coming night with her husband. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/iv) The bride is the central figure, experiencing fear and anticipation as she awaits the consummation of her marriage. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/v) Her maidenhood is described as a grave to be dug, and she is the central figure of the 'glad funeral'. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/vi) The bride is addressed directly, urged to awaken from sleep and hesitation to embrace joy and love. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/vii) Rises from bed, ashamed of her nakedness and the mark of the beast, and is assisted by her maids in dressing. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/viii) The bride is the passive subject of the maids' preparations; her body is touched and dressed, her thoughts bound to the bridegroom's hand, and her garland is described as 'soon to have no meaning,' symbolizing her imminent loss of virginity. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/ix) Gowned completely, awaiting her bridegroom with a mix of excitement and nervousness; her eyes are bright and dim, her hands cold, her heart pounding. ### [The Bride's Emergence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/x) The bride is issued out to the guests, the focal point of the scene. ### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xi) Implicitly the subject of the wedding festivities being prepared. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xii) The bride is the central figure, surrounded by the gaze and imagined touch of the wedding guests. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xiii) Referenced indirectly as part of 'they that wed' and the bridal experience. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xiv) Trembling and glad, she feels the heat of the day on her cloistered spot, where only her own hand has previously feigned pleasure. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xv) Her sad joy is remembered as part of the youthful love experience. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xvi) Referenced as the maiden who mounts her first rider, symbolizing sexual initiation. ### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xvii) Present in the bridal group, her soul is among those passively influenced by the satyrs' hot thoughts. ### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xviii) Implicitly present as the object of the procreative call. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xix) Implicitly the focus of the day's 'push love to wreak' and the woman's desire to have her man. ### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxi) One of the newlyweds, addressed as part of the 'ye, that wed to-day' and included in the intimate instructions. ### [Meantime](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/meantime) The distant beloved, described as past and beyond pain, joy, or hope. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/characters/the_bride - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/characters